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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did Charles Lamb sign many of his essays?
(a) Lamb used a variety of pen names.
(b) He published most of his work anonymously.
(c) Chuck Lamb (both of those words referring to a type of meat).
(d) Charles S. Lamb.

2. What is Michel de Montaigne considered to be?
(a) The greatest poet who ever lived.
(b) The greatest essayist who ever lived.
(c) The greatest biographer who ever lived.
(d) The greatest playwright who ever lived.

3. In addition to a personal essayist, what kind of essayist is Samuel Johnson.
(a) Moral essayist.
(b) Progressive essayist.
(c) Anti-intellectual essayist.
(d) Impersonal essayist.

4. In Montaigne's "On Some Verses..." essay, what opinion does he express about the sexes?
(a) Men and women are essentially the same.
(b) Men are made for war, and women are made for love.
(c) Men are far superior to women in all intellectual areas.
(d) Men do not possess emotional excess, which is the chief flaw of women.

5. What is Montaigne's general view of humanity?
(a) Humans are courageous and bold.
(b) Humans are noble and wise.
(c) Humans are vain and shameful.
(d) Humans are murderous animals.

6. Plutarch is known as the first great what?
(a) Biographer.
(b) Storyteller.
(c) Personal essayist.
(d) Playwright.

7. At what age did Montaigne begin writing?
(a) 25.
(b) 59.
(c) 38.
(d) 12.

8. What kind of social company does Sei Shonagon express hatred for in "Hateful Things?"
(a) Company that eats all of one's food.
(b) Company that will not leave.
(c) Company that asks prying questions.
(d) Company that does not talk.

9. Where did Maria Edgeworth get her nontraditional views from?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her grandmother.
(c) Her Sunday School teacher.
(d) Her father.

10. What kind of family background did Montaigne come from?
(a) His father was rich, but his mother came from a poor family.
(b) Both his father and mother's families were well-off and prominent.
(c) Montaigne came from a poor background.
(d) His mother was rich, but his father came from a poor family.

11. What colorful phrase does Seneca provide as another way to describe asthma?
(a) Sucking wind.
(b) Hellish hiccups.
(c) Speechless sweeps.
(d) Rehearsing death.

12. What does a woman's level of attachment to a man depend upon, according to Sei Shonagon?
(a) The way the man takes his leave of the woman.
(b) The elegance with which a man talks to the woman.
(c) The quality of gifts the man gives the woman.
(d) The way a man smells.

13. How was Montaigne's first book received?
(a) It was scorned, and vilified in the newspapers.
(b) It enjoyed a great deal of success.
(c) It was largely ignored by the public.
(d) It was self-published, and only three people got to see it at the time.

14. When was Seneca the Younger born?
(a) 525 A.D.
(b) 3 A.D.
(c) 300 B.C.
(d) 1420 A.D.

15. Which trait BEST describes what others thought of Michel de Montaigne in his youth?
(a) Miserly.
(b) Hard-working.
(c) Lazy.
(d) Austere.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Kenko become in 1324?

2. What does Montaigne admit in "Of Books?"

3. Who wrote "An Hour or Two Sacred to Sorrow?"

4. Why prompted Montaigne to retire from his career to pursue writing?

5. When was Maria Edgeworth born?

(see the answer keys)

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